I. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed primarily to truck bodies designed specifically for refuse hauling trucks and, more particularly, to a replaceable wear shoe for use on the ejection or packing mechanisms on such vehicles.
II. Description of the Related Art
Refuse pickup trucks commonly include a truck body specifically designed for receiving, compacting, hauling and discharging refuse materials which includes all the associated operating mechanisms. Ejector or packer Systems are used on such truck bodies in the compacting of the refuse within the truck body and the subsequent discharge of the refuse from the truck body. Two successful ejector systems used in refuse hauling are known as front loaders or rear loaders.
Front loaders include a refuse hauling reservoir designed for loading from the front of the vehicle and discharging from the rear of the vehicle. A cylinder operated ejection mechanism moves a wall aft on a horizontal plane in the manner of a plow to pack the contents of the refuse in the refuse reservoir and then moves the wall forward to allow more refuse to enter the reservoir. Once the refuse reservoir is full it must be emptied. A container discharge closure mechanism located at the rear of the body is opened and the ejector cylinder is fully extended to move the wall fully aft in the truck body to a position where the refuse will be completely expelled.
The rear loader includes a refuse hauling reservoir designed for loading and discharging from the rear of the vehicle. This system includes a hydraulic compacting mechanism which repeatedly compacts the refuse in a forward direction after each loading. In this manner, refuse eventually fills the available reservoir extending from the front end back towards the rear of the body until no more material can be compacted.
The ejector wall against which the refuse is compacted is a part of a cylinder operated ejection mechanism which, in effect, moves the wall forward and aft, on a horizontal plane, in the manner of a plow. The refuse is packed against the ejector which resists the packing of the refuse; the ejector is fully forward when the base calibrating body is fully packed. The ejector can then be operated rearward to expel the entire contents of the refuse volume during ejection. Typically, the bottom portion of the ejection mechanism is supported on a plurality of load bearing sliders along which the ejection mechanism slides. These load bearing sliders are adapted to support the ejector system just above the truck body floor.
An hydraulic cylinder mounted behind the cab on the truck chassis is designed to be connected between the truck chassis and the ejector and to operate and move the ejector system fore and aft in the refuse collecting body. The cylinder operates to position the ejector system as desired. When the cylinder is fully retracted, the ejector wall is in the fully forward position, the position assumed when the truck is fully loaded with refuse. When the cylinder is fully extended, the ejector wall is moved fully aft in the truck body to a position where the refuse will be completely expelled.
Both the rear loader and the front loading refuse trucks typically employ load bearing sliders that reciprocally ride on rails and are adapted to slidably support the ejector system just above the truck body floor. It will be appreciated that the sliders undergo a tremendous amount of wear because of the repeated packing of refuse within the container. The load bearing slide system consists of spaced parallel rails located along the length of the refuse receptacle. Load bearing sliders attached to the ejector mechanism ride in recesses configured in the rails. It has been found that the forward and aft portions of the load bearing sliders wear relatively rapidly, more rapidly than the remaining portion of the ejector mechanism. It is expensive and undesirable to require replacement of an entire ejector system because of the rapid wear of a portion of the sliders. Replaceable wear shoes applicable to the areas of relatively high wear experienced by the side rails would greatly enhance ejector life.
Therefore the primary object of the invention to provide a replaceable wear shoe that directly mounts to a slide bar of an ejector system so that the wear shoe is positioned to slide along the track for preferentially bearing the force and becoming worn instead of the slide bar thereby increasing the life of the ejector system.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a wear shoe for placement at the areas receiving the most force and resultant wear during the operation of the ejector mechanism.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a slip-on wear shoe which is easily replaceable.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a wear shoe which is easily manufactured at a cost significantly less than the cost of replacing the entire ejector system.
A further object of the invention is to provide a wear shoe for placement along the entire length of an ejector system slide bar.